Of dreams'n' dialogues

Two remarkable meetings took place in a 15-hour span this week that bodes well for the future of Salinas.

Starting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, city leadership and staff, members of the Salinas Planning and Research Corporation (SPARC), several consultants and a few plain Folks-Who-Care gathered at a public workshop in Sherwood Hall. There they received updates on city's General Plan Economic Development Element and brainstormed ways to increase job opportunities and expand the workforce; support existing and attract new businesses; improve neighborhoods and commercial areas; enhance retail, entertainment and tourism throughout the city; and enhance the overall quality of life here.

They spent nearly three hours brainstorming in small workshop teams, posting their recommendations on a wall and then examining each suggestion closely and indicating their choices as the best ideas.

It's the second step in a six-step process to update the city's General Plan and provide a road map and marching orders for its growth and vitality.

They call this part of the process "Opportunity Assessment" and "Growth Strategies Visioning."

We call it encouraging. This diverse group, numbering close to 100, shelved for a few hours whatever intense personal preferences, complaints, finger-pointing and NIMBY pronouncements they might have brought with them into the room and instead focused on seeking solutions and common good to benefit the city they love.

Now that Step 2 is complete, administrative staff will spend the next two months compiling a draft EDE embracing the best input collected Thursday night, then the draft will be offered for public review in January. If you weren't involved Thursday, we encourage you to review the draft when it's made available and provide your feedback before or during the final two steps - public hearings with city boards and commissions and public hearings with City Council. The goal is to have a final draft EDE ready by the end of March. Be sure to make your opinions known before then.

Fewer than 12 hours after that meeting disbanded, another took place in the Oldtown Salinas Association office on Midtown Lane at 8:15 a.m., Friday. This was to be a special meeting of the OSA Board called to approve a draft letter demanding that City Manager Ray Corpuz enforce city codes as they pertain to activities at nearby First Methodist Church that many Oldtown business owners perceive contribute directly to the rise in "undesirable element of street thug roaming the streets of Oldtown."

In other words, the homeless ministered to by the church but who, OSA members claim, "engage in antisocial and illegal activities to include aggressive solicitation, harassment, urination, defecation, intoxicating and drug sales."

Joining the OSA board in its cramped confines - actually spilling out into Midtown Lane - were a few other OSA members and a respectful group of clergy and, again, just plain folks who rallied around First Methodist pastor Rev. Jim Luther.

The dynamic of this meeting was intriguing. The OSA contingent arrived angry that undesirable behavior by the homeless has continued to damage Oldtown business and property values eight or nine months after the group sponsored two well-attended town hall meetings in the City Hall Rotunda to discuss the issues and sought remedy from the city. Rev. Luther, accompanied by local attorney David Balch and church supporters arrived hurt and bewildered that not only was the church deemed to be the "target" of this proposed action but that the pastor, an associate member of OSA, had been kept in the dark about the entire process.

This one could have gotten ugly quickly but for a remarkably graceful and disarming opening statement by Rev. Luther that set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Balch followed with a brief, unthreatening but incredibly pragmatic opinion about the church's rights under the First Amendment and a reminder that any action taken by the city against First Methodist would, by necessity, apply to all 300 or so houses of worship in Salinas.

Then the simple folk spoke. Some eloquently, like Chuck Messenger, an Oldtown landlord, who reminded all that the Methodist Church wasn't the problem, it was part of the solution. Some emotionally, like ag company scion Jeff Taylor, who choked up describing his feelings as a volunteer distributing food to the homeless at the church every week. Some passionately, like Carmela Moreno, a Salinas dog groomer who told the OSA board: "Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame on you for doing this. Be Yoda, not Darth Vader."

In short order, a motion to approve the board's draft letter was withdrawn and replaced by a motion to form a multilateral committee - most definitely including Luther and other clerics - to meet within 30 days to brainstorm remedies and compose a new letter, this time to Mayor Joe Gunter and Council, with recommendations the city should pursue to remedy the overall homeless problem.

Nothing but good will come from each of these meetings. And that's a great thing for Salinas.

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Of dreams'n' dialogues

Two remarkable meetings took place in a 15-hour span this week that bodes well for the future of Salinas.